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Anxiety and affiliation in children
1Cornell University, USA.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
|November 8, 2013
Summary
High anxiety increases adult affiliation needs, especially under stress, but nurturance reduces this. Dependency motives appear to drive the anxiety-affiliation link in children.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Anxiety and affiliation are complex psychological phenomena.
- Existing models (psychoanalytic, drive, social comparison) offer different perspectives on their relationship.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test hypotheses regarding the link between anxiety and affiliation.
- To investigate the influence of stress, nurturance, and information needs on affiliation.
Main Methods:
- Exposed high anxious (HA) and low anxious (LA) children to stress and specific need-fulfillment conditions.
- Included unstressed and non-need fulfilled control groups.
- N=224 grade school children.
Main Results:
- Stress significantly increased adult affiliation in HA children; nurturance decreased it.
- Peer affiliation was unaffected by stress or information needs.
- LA children's affiliation remained unchanged across conditions.
Conclusions:
- Dependency motives mediate the relationship between anxiety and affiliation.
- Anxiety specifically influences the need for adult affiliation, modulated by stress and nurturance.
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